chimera

Term: chimera

Literally meaning: “one year old female goat”

Origin: Anc Greek

χίμαιρα/chimera=one year (winter)  old female goat

>χειμών/xhimon(=winter) >(adj) χειμερινός/chimerinos (=wintry)

>+ αίγα/ega(=goat)

Coined/History

According to Homer (Illiad) the  Chimera was a female monster that composed of several different animals: a lion’s head, a goat’s body and sometimes head, and a serpent’s tail. She was considered as the  personification of winter.

Definition

1.      an organism or tissue with genetically distinct cells from two different zygotes

2.     a fusion protein, made by the splicing of two genes